Headless Polaroid Scandal
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Royal families
and their secrets
Famed for her charisma, beauty and style,
Margaret, Duchess of Argyll, dominated the
front pages, as a divorce featuring accusations
of forgery, theft, violence, drug-taking, secret
recording, bribery and an explicit polaroid
picture - all played out in the white-hot glare
of the 1960s.
A Very British Scandal turns this scandal inside
out in order to explore the social and political
climate of post-war Britain, looking at
attitudes towards women, and asking whether
institutional misogyny was widespread at the
time. As her contemporaries, the press, and the
judiciary sought to vilify her, Margaret kept
her head held high with bravery and resilience,
refusing to go quietly as she was betrayed by
her friends and publicly shamed by a society
that revelled in her fall from grace.
Margaret Campbell, now Duchess of Argyll, and Ian Douglas
Campbell, 11𝑡ℎ Duke of Argyll after their wedding at Caxton
Hall in 1951.
Misogyny and politics at the
root of the aristocratic
scandal that upsets the
United Kingdom .
The story of the sex scandal’s protagonist
Margaret Whigham (1 December 1912 – 25 July 1993) was a Duchess that had
endured her fair share of scandal before she ever received a title. In 1933 she
married American businessman from which divorced becoming an icon of fashion and
glamour.
In 1951 Margaret became the third wife of Ian Douglas Campbell, 11𝑡ℎ Duke of Argyll
Queen Elizabeth II’s cousin, taking on the title of Duchess in the process.
Within a few years, the marriage was falling apart. The Duke was known to be addicted
to drink, gambling and prescription drugs and Margaret struggled financially, using her
own fortune to help pay off his debts.
Margaret and Ian Campbell both began seeing other people, and while Campbell had
agreed to the arrangement, he was also secretly following Margaret to "collect evidence
of her adultery".
It wasn't until 1963, when Margaret "stopped giving money" to pay off his creditors,
that Campbell decided to divorce her and committed what many think of as a modern
crime: revenge porn.
Campbell broke into Margaret's desk and found a collection of explicit polaroid
photos of her in the company of other men.There were also Duches’s photographs with
a naked man whose face was not shown, in fact he was nominated “headless man”.
This scandal involved Winston Churchill's grandson, the government minister.
In the face of public opinion, the Lords’s social class reputation was tarnished,
but in exchange the Duke obtained a divorce while the Duchess, defeated in court
to maintain the noble title.
The photograph gave to the
divorce story the nickname
"Headless Polaroid Scandal".
The Duke of Argyll accused his
wife of infidelity and revealing
the images in court during their
divorce case, Campbell claimed
his wife had been unfaithful with
as many as 88 other men.
.The list is said to include two
government ministers and three
members of the British royal
family.
In the pictures men's faces are out
of frame while she is wearing only
three-strand pearl necklace.
 LADY CAMPBELL OF ARGYLL WAS TRAVELED IN 1963 BY
AN EPOCAL PROCESS. THE ACCUSATION: HAVING HAD 88
LOVERS. THE JUDGE WRITTEN:
"HAS A DEGRADED SEXUAL APPETITE." .
At the Edinburgh's court the presiding judge,
called the Duchess of Argyll:
«wholly immoral and completely promiscuous».
«a highly sexed woman who ceased to be satisfied with normal sexual relations and had
started to indulge in disgusting sexual activities to gratify a debased sexual appetite».
From to BBC One and BBC iPlayer “A Very
British Scandal” tells the story behind the
divorce of the Duke and Duchess of Argyll in
1963, one of the most notorious, extraordinary
and brutal legal cases of the 20𝑡ℎ century
chiedi agli esperti >>>
Margaret Campbell (CLAIRE FOY) in “A Very British
Scandal”. (Image Credit: BBC / Blueprint Pictures).
who was reportedly related to Campbell,
British socialite Margaret Campbell, Duchess of
Argyll, wearing printed dress and Gainsborough
hat in August 1955.
How revenge porn followed
“the dirty Duchess”
to her death
The Duchess was guilty of adultery, but also a victim of the
misogyny of the period.
She was nicknamed “the dirty duchess” by the press, but Margaret, Duchess of Argyll, was
one of millions of women who have had their sexuality used against them with revenge
porn. Once a fashion icon and staple of high society, the disgraced Duchess never recovered
from the public shame of having her intimate photos shared, and she died in a London nursing
home in 1993.
Since Margaret's case in the mid- 20𝑡ℎ century "nothing's really changed" when it comes to
revenge porn, and women are still crucified when their sexual photos are shared against their
will
➔ The miniseries tells the story of the Duchess of Argyll and what has been considered
the first case of revenge porn in the UK.
The miniseries will not only deal with the divorce scandal, but more generally the mentality
and misogyny of that period and the television reconstruction of the character of the Duchess
of Argyll redeeming the memory of a beautiful, elegant and glamorous woman.
Ian Campbell (PAUL BETTANY), Margaret (CLAIRE FOY) in “A
Very British Scandal”